Cooking up bok choy with sixth graders, and rethinking small city downtowns? All in a day’s work for Macalester students, who find interesting internships all over the Twin Cities each semester.

Film and Video Intern, Walker Art Center

Noah Koch ’14 (Hastings on Hudson, N.Y.) learned about both nuts and bolts things like how to handle analog film and larger things, like how an entire museum operation works. He even enjoyed sitting in on meetings, he says, especially given the interesting people who work at the Walker, a nationally recognized modern art museum. While working in the film/video department, he also gained experience writing program and wall notes, plus there was this: “I got into all their events for free.”

Kitchen Classroom Intern, Upper Mississippi Academy

Kathryn Hehre ’15 (Minneapolis), a psychology major with an educational studies minor, spent several hours a week fall semester working in the culinary classroom of a new Twin Cities charter school. The school emphasizes both agriculture and single gender education, so Hehre found herself responsible for teaching sixth grade boys how to chop, sauté, and use vegetables from the school’s garden. Her favorite recipe? Pea vines and bok choy cooked and served over barley. “They absolutely loved it,” she laughs.

Main Street Program Intern, Preservation Alliance of Minnesota

Natalie Heneghan ’15 (Cedarburg, Wis.) is a history major, so this internship combining historic preservation and downtown revitalization was perfect for her. The Main Street Program, run by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, consults with small towns and cities to help them maintain their architectural legacy while livening up their downtowns. Heneghan worked on the group’s web page, social media efforts, and resource lists and helped run seminars and workshops. She ended up learning “just how many niche jobs are out there” in the historic preservation area she plans to pursue. “Many of these towns have a beautiful structure,” she says. “They just need a little push.”